Turkey to increase child abuse penalties

ANKARA - Turkey's ruling Justice and Development Party will introduce a series of draft legislation targeting child sexual abuse, Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Arinc said on Monday.

"There will be new regulations over crimes against children. The conditional release time on people who received imprisonment for sexual abuse on children will be increased," he said in a press conference after a weekly cabinet meeting.

He said the planned laws would have people who had got aggravated life imprisonment for crimes against children serve more prison time.

Child abuse issue made headlines in Turkey after the dead body of a 6-year-old missing girl, Gizem Akdeniz, was found stabbed and tied on last Tuesday.

- Mavi Marmara compensation

Arinc said there were "positive developments" in negotiations with Israel over compensation to the families of the 'Mavi Marmara incident' victims.

"We have not reached a final deal yet, but I hope we will get there soon," he said.

Relations between Turkey and Israel became strained in 2010 after Israeli soldiers killed nine people during a raid on the Turkish flotilla Mavi Marmara as it was carrying humanitarian aid to Gaza.